A recent study conducted by nonprofit research organization Urban Institute has revealed that if a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) becomes a permanent feature then the number of uninsured in the US would come down by 4.2 million. ARPA provisions aim to facilitate easy access to affordable health insurance coverage through 2021 and 2022. A prominent provision of the Act hikes subsidies in order to make coverage in the Affordable Care Act marketplace more affordable.
- The objective of the analysis is to highlight the maximum potential impact of ARPA’s enhanced marketplace subsidies on health insurance coverage. It studied the effects of these provisions assuming they were permanent changes.
- According to the study, enhanced subsidies would help attract a majority of previously uninsured individuals to the marketplace. It found that subsidized enrollment would increase by 5.1 million.
- Some 317,000 people with non-ACA-compliant coverage would opt for a more comprehensive ACA-compliant plan if allowed, the researchers noted. The analysis suggests nearly 60 percent jump in marketplace enrollment in 2022 if the ARPA were to become permanent.
- The study concluded that making the temporary policy changes permanent can help policymakers regain coverage lost during the Covid-19 pandemic. This, it notes, would also boost the stability of the marketplace.